IDSFFK to begin Friday, 109 women directors’ films to be screened

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Films by 109 women directors will be screened at the 14th edition of the International Documentary Short Film Festival of Kerala (IDSFFK), which will begin on Friday. All the films in the ‘I Tales’ category of the festival, which will display 262 films in 12 categories, have been made by women. The movies shot on the iPhone are included in this category.

As many as 17 films in the International Non-Fiction category, 12 films in the Long Documentary category, four films in the Short Films category and seven films in the International Short Films category were made by women.  Nine animated movies focusing on the diverse facets of life are all set to add brilliance to the festival. Two Malayalam movies make it into the category with the themes of survival, solitude, and fantasy.

The Tamil filmmaker Sethuramalingam’s “Among the Stars,” Abhishek Verma and Jayesh Pillai’s “Manhole,” dealing with the exigency of a flawed economic life and caste identity, and Suchana Saha’s “Dear Me,” following the journey to find oneself, are among the nine movies in the category.  The two Malayalam films in the category are Sethulakshmi’s “Arike” and “Manjadikaalam.”

CULTURAL PROGRAMMES
As part of the festival, various artistic programmes will be organised on the Kairali theatre premises at 6.30pm. There will be a medley of popular songs by singer Aloshy on August 27, a concert by Almaram Music Band on August 28, Bastin John’s mehfil on August 29, and Santhosh Keezhatoor’s one-act play ‘Pennadan’ on August 30.

Jury
The Jury Chairperson for the non-fiction category is documentary director Anjali Monterio. Hansa Tapliyal is the jury chairperson for the fiction category.

Prize
A total of Rs 2 lakh will be presented for the best long documentary and Rs 1 lakh for the best short documentary. The best short film will get Rs 2 lakh, while the best campus film made in Kerala will get Rs 50,000.